Moldboard for plows



May 19, 1936. R. J. ALTGELT 2,041,519

MOLDBOARD FOR PLOWS Filed Feb. 25, 1935 21 jni/m" V cami Patented May 19, 1936 MOLDBOARD FOR PLOWS Rudolpl J. Altgelt, South Bend, Iid., miglior to Oliver Farm Equipment Company, a coi-para- 4 tion of Delaware Application February 25, 1935, Serial No. 8,027

4 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to plows, but more particularly to a novel and improved construction of moldboards therefor.

In all high grade steel moldboards for plows 5 that have been heretofore manufactured, it has been customary to form these'moldboards from material composed of three -layers in which the outer layers consist of high carbon tempered steel and the inner layerof soft or low carbon steel, with all the layers of approximately the same thickness. With this structure the inner or soft center layer of the steel does not become materially harder when the moldboard as a whole is passing through its tempering operation. With this conventional type of moldboard the hard steel layer on front, or scouring surface side of the moldboard is worn through to the soft center, the board loses its good scouring quality and in addition thereto, quickly wears through 0 the soft center layer very rapidly and in a short time renders the moldboard useless.

It is therefore one of the primary objects of the present invention to provide a novel andimproved moldboard Construction which will not 5 only double the life of the moldboard heretofore used, but which will also strengthen' the moldboard without increasing the weight 'or increasing the cost of manufacture thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved construction of moldboards for plows in which the soft portion or low carbon inner layerofsteel is oil' centered with respect to the other layers so that, the side of the moldboard which forms the scouring sur:

i face thereof carries a hardened steel layer which is considerably thicker than the hardened steel layer heretofore used and twice the thickness of the hardened layer on-the rear side of the moldboard, thereby' increasing the wearing surface on the front side and increasing the strength of the moldboard without increasing its weight or thickness overthe conventional moldboard.

These and other objects are accomplished by providing a Construction and an arrangement oi the various parts in the manner hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the ap'- pended claims.

Referring to the drawing, I have illustrated one application of my improved invention in connection with a walking plow of the slat type in which i Fig. 1 illustrates a perspective view' oi' the same: e i

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational. view of the plow shown in Fig. 1; r

Fig. 3 is a rear elevational view of the conventional plow having my improved moldboard thereon; v

. Fig.-4 'is an elevational land-side view of a moldboard plow; 4 Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the plow shown in Fig. i; and

Fig. 6 is an enarged cross sectional view of a straight section of my improved moldboard or slat illustrated in the other views.

It has been the practice heretofore in the manufacture of all high grade steel moldboards for plows to use material composed oi' three layers of equal thickness in which the center layer thereof consisted of soft or low carbon' steel,

while the outer layers were composed of high carbon tempered steel. The soft centered steel in the middle layer performs the very useful' function-of eliminating brittleness and preventing breakage which would occur if the moldboard as a whole were made of high carbon steel. The front layer of high carbon steel on which the scouring surface isformed performs, the very useful function of not only 'strengthening the moldboard, but also resisting the excessive'wear caused by the scouring action oi' the material being plowed. The layer on the rear side of the moldboard performs the very useful function o! strengthening the plow and preventing distortion of the shape of the moldboard in its cooling ao action after it is formed.

With my improved invention I retain all the advantages heretofore secured by the three layer moldboard, and in 'addition thereto, I have increased the life as well as the strength of the moldboard by increasing the thickness of the front layer oi' high carbon steel and decreasing the rear layer of the mold board. Stating it i'n 'other words, in the moldboards heretofore used each of the three layers consisting of a third of 40 the thickness of the material used, my present invention contemplates a moldboard of the same thickness with the front .layer of hard' steel approximately four-ninths-the entire thickness of the `board,` the soft intermediate layer of ap- -proximately one-thir& the thickness and the hard steel rear layer two-ninths the thickness of the moldboard. Stating it another way, I have used substantially the same amount and quality ofmateri'al in my improved moidboard as in the conventional one, and had secured these additional advantages by placing the soft center steel layer of! center with respect to the 'outside surfaces of the moldboard. I In Fig. 1 oi' the drawing, I have showna horse drawn plow of the slat type, but it will of course, be understood that my inventionis capable of application to any type of a plowof the moldboard structure. In Fig. 1 of the drawing is shown a plow beam o to which is attached in the usual manner a plow ll which comprises a moldboard section |2 and slat sections !3, which are attached by means of bolts to the supporting frame or frog II. The plow share IS is similarly attached-to the supporting frame i! in a manner well understood 'in the art. The upper free ends of the moldboard section l2 and slats I: are braced by a 'diagonal member or bar IT in the manner well understood in the art. Figs. 3, 4 and 5 shows moldboards a of the single piece type which are connected to the usual plow share !9 in a manner well understood in the art. w

In Fig. 6 of the drawing, I have shown an enlar'ged cross-sectional view which may be taken from a cross section of any of the moldboards |8 or the moldboard sections I 2 and l3 of the slat or plow shown in Fig. 1. 'In this view it will be noted there are three layers, the top or front layer as indicated by the reference character 20 forms the front or scouring side of the moldboard and consists of high carbon tempered steel. The relatively smaller layer on the rear side as indicated by the reference character 2l is made of high carbon steel and is substantially half the thickness of the layer on the front side indicated by the reference character 20. In between these two layers is a soft center or low carbon steel layer indicated by the reference character 22 which retains the two high carbon layers together and eliminates the brittleness which would be occasioned if the complete thickness of the moldboard were made of one layer of high carbon steel.

A series of strength tests of strips of material of the conventional structure and of my improved contruction disclose that when the soft center layer 22 is slightly positioned off center so that the high carbon steel on one side thereof is twice the thickness of the high carbon steel on the other side thereof as shown in Fig. 6 of the -drawin`g, a pressure of approxlmately 2500 the identical thickness, but with the soft layer located in the center of the hard layers and the result of these tests, a strip from' the conventional moldboard breaks from a pressure on -either side at approximately 2000 pounds. It

therefore follows that the crushing strength' of the moldboard of my improved invention against the scouring side thereof has been increased 25% without increasing the thiclmess, weight or the cost of manufacture thereof over that of the conve'ntional moldboard. It will also be noted that by increasing or doubling the thicknss of the high carbon tempered layer on the scourlng face side of the moldboard over that of the rear side, I have doubled the life of this wearing surface and have thereby reduced the necessity of replacement substantially without increas- 'ing the weight or cost of manufacture thereof.

While in the above specificationl have disclosed one embodiment whichmy invention may assume in practice, it will of course, be understood that modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the following claims.

What I claim is my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: A

1. A moldboard for plows consisting of .outer layers of relatively high carbon steel and an intermediate layer of relatively low carbon steel located off center with respect to the surfaces of said outer layers.

2. A moldboard for plows consisting of three layers of steel. a front layer of relatively high carbon steel forming approximately four-ninths the thickness of said board, an intermediate layer of relatively low carbon steel forming approximately one-third the thickness of said board, and a rear layer of high carbon steel forming approximately two-ninths the thickness of said board.

3. A moldboard for plows consisting of outer layers of relatively high carbon steel, and an intermediate layer of relatively low carbon steel located off center rea'wardly with respect to the front surface of said front layer.

4. A moldboard for plows consisting of outer layers of relatively'high carbon steel, said layers being of relatively different thicknesses, and an intermediate layer of relatively low carbon steel between said outer layers, said intermediate layer approximately one-third the 'thickness ot said board.

RUDOLPH J. ALTGELT. 

